RE: Hornady vs Barnes
Danny
His my take on your question and it probably will not be popular. The Barnes is an over priced all copper bullet. The XTP is a popular priced jouneymans bullet. Probably killed more ML animals than any other bullet. The Barnes will pentrate deeper and will not blow up. The XTP will kill any deer in the US just as effectivley, BUT could possible blow up at a given velocity in contact with a large bone - there fore Hornady produced the XTP Mag which will hold the velocity of a muzzleloader. The Barnes will be a much more effective bullet on thick skinned animals and dangerous animals than will any of the XTP's. I my self hunt elk with a Nosler Partition because of that one fact - thick skin...
Now I am biased so take this information with a grain of salt - Speer 300 grain Gold Dot which is bonded and has a published BCof .232 beats the heck out of the either XTP.
mike